


Flashback

by theHunter_and_theNinja



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/M, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:36:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16128173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theHunter_and_theNinja/pseuds/theHunter_and_theNinja
Summary: Paul and Daryl are out on a routine scavenging mission when they encounter a strange light in the forest that sends them back to before the turn. With no money, no identification, and no friends, how will they survive in the modern world again? Especially when the turn doesn't happen like they thought it would.





	1. Blast to the Past

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back with a new story! Finally. College has completely taken over my life, but I will do my best to post fairly regularly.

“Would you knock it off?” Daryl grouched at Paul as he once again threw a knife into the skull of a walker Daryl had been about to shoot down with his bow.

Paul shrugged his shoulders. He knew Daryl had it, but it was fun teasing and riling up his boyfriend. Sometimes Daryl made it too easy.

“What?” Paul smiled, retrieving his knife from the rotting face of the walker.

Daryl rolled his eyes muttering “asshole” at him before continuing on through the woods. Paul laughed softly following Daryl through the dense brush that had begun growing in the warm spring air.

They were out hunting for dinner on their run having grown tired of vegetarian meals that were the staples of their diet during the last month of winter. They’d been on the road for about a week now and Daryl was hoping to catch some fresh meat to take back to the community. They’d been living off dried squirrel and deer jerky for the past few weeks and the idea of fresh rabbit had Paul’s mouth watering.

Daryl held his fist up in the air, a signal that he’d found a trail and for Paul to be quiet. Daryl walked forward cautiously, not making a sound and Paul followed in the same manner, his knives at the ready.

Faster than he could follow something darted out of the brush right in front of Daryl. Paul didn’t react in time, but Daryl did and before he knew it there was a bolt in the rabbit’s side, pining it to the ground. Daryl moved forward to retrieve it. He held it up and inspected it. It wasn’t very big, but that was to be expected at this time in the year.

“Skinny, but it’s the biggest one we’ve caught so far,” Daryl said as he strung it on his belt with the other three rabbits and four squirrels they’d caught, Daryl bringing down all but one of them.

“Think we have enough for now? It’s getting late.”

“Yeah, it’ll have to do. We should get back to the truck.”

They turned to start making their way back to where they’d hidden the truck, teasing each other and laughing all the way back, occasionally pausing to give each other light pecks on the lips and cheek. The atmosphere was light, peaceful even; a feat not all that long ago they would’ve thought impossible. Since the war with Negan, almost two years ago, the communities have been at peace. The Hilltop was doing better than ever, the Kingdom had so many animals now they’d had to expand their borders, and Alexandria was almost finished being rebuilt.

Once it became clear that Rick was not going to listen to them and execute Negan, Daryl moved to Hilltop permanently to get away from the murder imprisoned there. Being within 50 feet of the cell made Daryl skittish and overly aggressive, so he knew it was best for him to leave. He moved in with Paul and not long after the two entered into a relationship that has been going strong ever since.

Daryl’s family had been shocked by the development at first, none of had known he was gay. Paul had thought everyone in Daryl’s family knew so he didn’t think much of it when he leaned over and kissed him on the cheek one night while they were sitting around a campfire enjoying a few beers with a few of Daryl’s family members. The sudden silence was obvious and Paul turned to look around, confused. Everyone’s eyes were locked on them and Daryl was as still as a statue. The tension in the air was obvious and Paul swallowed hard, nervous as to everyone’s reaction, especially Daryl’s. All he did was blink a few times before turning and hauling Paul in for a real kiss as his family cheered their congratulations and toasted their beers at them.

“About time Daryl found someone to look after him,” Rick had teased and Daryl threw a bent bottle cap at him in retaliation, making everyone laugh.

“What ya thinking about?” Daryl asked, bring Paul back to the present as they sat around a very similar campfire next to their truck, two freshly caught rabbits roasting over the flames.

“Oh nothing, just the first time I kissed you in public.”

Daryl shook his head, “took me completely by surprise. Wasn’t exactly how I planned on everyone finding out.”

Paul glanced at him, “Not as surprised as I was when you hauled me back in for that second kiss. Damn near knocked me out of my chair.”

Daryl laughed at him, contentment and happiness clear in his eyes. Paul got up from his place opposite Daryl and sat down next to him, curling up against his broad frame, his head coming to rest on one of Daryl broad shoulders. They sat in silence, waiting for their food to finish cooking, as they simply enjoyed each other’s presences and gazed at the stars above twinkling in the dark expanse of the sky.

Tomorrow it was back to Hilltop and real life with screaming children, a laundry list of chores, and next to no privacy. Being Maggie’s two top advisors, people came to them a lot for help at all hours of the day and night sometimes because they wanted to give Maggie a break. Besides, it was decided that between the hours of 10 pm and 10 am, Maggie was off limits unless it was an absolute emergency. Everyone knew how good a leader she is, but they also wanted to ensure that she spent as much time as possible with her son.

A woman’s scream out in the woods jolted them out of their relaxed state. They didn’t even talk about it, they just grabbed their gear and quickly put out their fire before dashing off in the direction of the scream. They both ran in tandem as another yell broke through the forest and they adjusted their course accordingly. An eerie light peaked through the brush in the direction of the noise and Paul briefly wondered if they should slow down and approach slower, but another yell, this time from a man, stopped that train of thought in its tracks.

They broke through into a clearing, the light all around them now, only to find two fresh corpses lying on the ground unconscious. At least, they didn’t look dead, there wasn’t an ounce of blood visible on either the man or the woman. As Paul approached the woman, the light suddenly changed color.

“Who’s there?” Daryl yelled.

There was no response except a rushing of wind through the trees.

“Daryl, I think we should leave.”  
“Yeah. First make sure they’re dead, don’t need any new walkers.”

Paul nodded and bent down to fell the woman’s pulse, there wasn’t one, but her body was still warm. Paul pulled his knife out of his sheath, “I’m sorry” he whispered, before driving it through her skull. Daryl inspected the man and did the same. They still had no idea what the light was or what had killed them; still, best to leave now than end up like them trying to figure it out.

Daryl made his way over to Paul and took his hand to lead them back to the truck when the strange light began intensifying and burning. They started running, still holding hands not wanting to lose track of the other. The next thing Paul knew, he was standing on a sofa in the middle of a very nice house and Daryl stood beside him on the ground, still holding his hand. They both looked around in confusion as they took in their surrounding.

“Holy fuck,” Daryl whispered.

“What?”

“This is Rick’s old house.”

“Rick’s house? Daryl, his old house is in Georgia, we’re in Virginia.”

Daryl turned to look at him, “oh yeah, then explain these pictures.”

Paul looked closer at the mantle of the fireplace and sure enough, it was littered with pictures of a much younger Rick and a woman he’d never met holding Carl who couldn’t be more than twelve years old. Paul’s eyes widened in shock, this couldn’t be happening. This had to be a dream right?

“What do we do?” Paul turned to look at his boyfriend.

He doubted Rick’s wife would like coming in to find two strangers that haven’t showered in over three days, tracking mud all over her living room. They jumped when the front door opened and they could hear a woman’s voice drifting into them. Daryl glanced at Paul and nodded at the backdoor. He nodded and together they quietly crept to the door and slipped outside before they took off running for the wooded area just behind the house.

Once they were sure they’d gone far enough and covered their tracks so nobody would be able to come after them and accuse them of breaking and entering, they paused to catch their breath.

“What the actual fuck?” Paul rasped, leaning against a tree for support.

Daryl sat down on the ground, “I’ve got no idea, but that was definitely Lori’s voice.”

“Lori?”

“Rick’s wife from before, Carl’s biological mom.”

Paul nodded, still unsure what to make of this whole mess. They’d landed in the middle of a house in Georgia long abandoned by the Grimes family and a woman everyone knew for sure was dead was alive again.

“I think...” Daryl began “fuck, sounds crazy just thinking it.”

“What?” Paul looked at him, desperate for any explanation for the past hour’s events.

“I think that weird light shot us back in time to before the turn.”

_ Oh shit _ , was all that Paul could think.


	2. Pardon our Freak Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl and Paul attempt to reason out their unusual situation, but get sidetracked.

Daryl leaned back against the tree behind him to catch his breath and just fucking  _ think  _ for a moment. They were back in time, just trashed the Grimes’ living room, and had no idea how to move forward. They have no place to stay and only enough food to last a couple days. They’d still be able to hunt, but they’d need other things soon and looting was no longer legal.

 

He rubbed his hand over his face and groaned aloud. This was all so complicated being back before having grown so used to the after. He felt Paul come to rest next to him, his head resting on his shoulder. Fuck, they didn’t anything at all. No money, no IDs, and no friends outside each other.

 

“What’s the plan Daryl?” Paul asked quietly, “I’m at a total loss.”

 

“Same here, I mean... what the fuck!”

 

“I don’t know. A least we don’t have to worry about taking watch anymore with no walkers around. I mean, the turn didn’t start until after Rick was shot, so I think we need to find Rick and figure out where we are in the timeline.”

 

Daryl nodded, this time they knew it was coming, they could be more prepared and hopefully save some more lives than before. He glanced up at the sky, the sun was going to set soon and they needed to find shelter. The slight chill in the air forwarding rain tonight.

 

“Any idea how we might find some shelter? We can’t exactly break into a house anymore and just sleep in the attic. We’ve got no money, no identification, nothing.”

 

“Homeless shelter?” Paul offered.

 

“What?” Daryl pushed off the tree to stare at him, “I’d sooner sleep in the forest on the ground, and I have.”

 

“What’s the big deal? It would just be a few days, only long enough to figure this shit out.”

 

“I ain’t going to no damn homeless shelter,” Daryl growled, turning away from Paul.

 

“Why? Give me one good reason to turn down free shelter and food? I stayed in one before the turn when I had nowhere else to go.”

 

“They ask too many questions in those places, too many strangers cramped into a small room, feels like I’m in a fucking zoo.”

 

“But we’ll be together and we can get through this...”

 

“You don’t get it do you?” Daryl turned around to face him again, his face both angry and sad.

 

“Get what?” Paul was confused by his sudden hostility, they hadn’t fought like this in months.

 

“We’re not in Virginia anymore Paul, we’re in southern Georgia, neck deep in homophobia. This place will not be kind to us. Nobody can know about our relationship.”

 

“Why not? People can shove their homophobic opinions up their asses,” Paul bit back, hurt slightly by Daryl’s words.

 

“Think about it, we’re back in the old world where people are easily swayed by the people around them, nature hasn’t done us the favor of ridding the world of a lot of the assholes we’ll meet yet. Gay marriage isn’t even legal, the only reason Father Gabriel could marry us is because we were no longer under those laws.”

 

Paul opened his mouth to retort but stopped short, extremely confused by something Daryl said “marry us?”

 

Daryl’s face turned bright red and became very interested in his shoes.

 

“I...,” he began, “I was gonna, I mean, uh...”

 

“Daryl,” Paul placed his fingers under Daryl’s chin to force their eyes to meet, “were you planning on...  _ proposing _ to me?”

 

Daryl skuffed his feet on the ground, his eyes flicking around Paul’s face but avoiding his gaze.

 

“Daryl... babe?” his hand falling to Daryl’s chest.

 

They locked eyes and their current precarious predicament fell away and it was just them, standing in a forest as the sun set behind them, “Yeah, I was. I was about to ask when we heard that woman scream... and then we ended up here. That run I went on with Maggie was a cover up for her to help me pick out the perfect rings.”

 

Paul’s jaw dropped, “do you have them?”

 

“Have what?”

 

“The rings.”

 

“Oh!” Daryl reached into his front pocket and produced a small black leather box.

 

“You gonna ask me?”

 

“But we’re...”

 

“I don’t care, nobody has to know we’re engaged to each other. They’ll all probably assume we’re widowers anyway.”

 

Daryl swallowed thickly, carefully grasping Paul’s hand in his, “this is not exactly how I planned on doing this but, here goes.”

 

“Paul, I love you, I have for a long time, but I want to make our relationship official like Aaron and Eric did after the fall. Since we aren’t barred from this anymore, I want to be yours forever cause there ain’t nobody else out there for me. So, Paul, will you marry me?”

 

Daryl opened the box and inside was a gold band with and arrow bent into the forever knot engraved on the top of it. It was simply, yet personal and beautiful, perfect for them both.

 

Paul could tell that even now Daryl was extremely nervous about asking this, hell he’d probably never dreamed he’d get to do this both because of his family and because it was illegal. The slight shaking of his voice, the blush in his cheeks, the absurdity of their situation and yet, he felt like it was perfect.

 

“Yes, of course I will. I love you, too.”

 

Daryl smiled brightly and pulled the other ring out of his pocket, not in another box. Daryl slipped the ring on Paul’s finger and allowed Paul to put his on his finger as well so they both had matching rings on now. Daryl then pulled him in for a kiss, their lips melding together and, if they’d been alone next to their truck still, would’ve totally crawled into the back of the truck to express their love for each other in a much more carnal fashion.

 

The sound of yelling broke through their peaceful moment in the midst of their  _ Back to the Future  _ trip. They must be trying to locate the people that broke into a cop’s house like a couple of idiot.

 

“We should go,” Daryl said.

 

“Yeah,” Paul pecked him on the lips again, “into town?”

 

“It’s our only option really. We’ll figure it out as we go along, we always do.”

 

And then they ran, the sound of Rick’s angry voice fading into the background.


	3. The Stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter. Also, sorry for the wait, college is seriously kicking my ass right now.

The two sprinted away from where Rick was looking for them. They ran until the broke out of the trees onto what looked to be a paved running trail. A swift nod from Daryl and the two took off down the trail, the pavement would prevent Rick from being able to pick up their trail. Even while they were running, sweat dripping down into their eyes, breathing hard in the humid air, Paul couldn’t take his mind off the new metal band sitting on his finger.

He smiled without really thinking about it. Despite his confusion and terror over what was happening to them, he was glad Daryl loved him so much that he wanted to commit the rest of his life to him. The ring twisted around his finger easily, slick from his sweat as his fingers casually played with it as he ran alongside his boyfriend... fiancé.

Paul glanced up ahead to see a parking lot coming into view. From there they should be able to figure out where town was and what to do from there. He understood Daryl’s aversion to homeless shelters, but it may be their best shot at getting back on their feet in the world before the turn. Shelters often had ways to retrieve IDs and could recommend them to possible employers, they were going to need money.

He could hear Daryl next to him starting to slow down, his feet hitting against the pavement hard, his breathing ragged. Paul’s gaze fell onto Daryl’s matching ring glinting in the sunlight. The sight made Paul’s heart swell up with happiness. Daryl looked up at him through his shaggy bangs, sweat dripping between his dark eyes. It was so unbelievably hot out, but this was Virginia and neither of them were accustomed to the heat of Georgia.

“There’s got to be some kind of nap around here that will point us in the direction of town,” Daryl said between gasps of air.

Paul nodded resting his arms on his waist trying to catch his breath. A large sign caught his eye and he slowly turned to make his way over to it. On it was a huge map of the park, but there didn’t seem to be any indication of which direction they needed to head in. He sighed in frustration staring at the map when he felt someone come up behind him.

“Daryl, do you see anything cause I-“ Paul turned and jumped when he noticed it wasn’t Daryl standing behind him, instinctively pivoting into a fighting stance.

“Whoa,” the stranger held up his hands in surrender, “didn’t mean to startle you.”

Paul relaxed back into his normal stance. “Sorry, force of habit,” Paul apologized, trying to make himself seem as least threatening as possible.

The man standing before him was a few inches taller than him, probably closer to Daryl’s height. He had curly brown hair and a short, well kept beard to match. He stood with an air of confidence, a smirk alight on his face. Yet he wasn’t giving Paul any vibes of being someone he could trust, now or in the world of the dead. There was something cold in his eyes that Paul couldn’t place causing the hair on the back of his neck to stance on end.

“Force of habit? You look kinda young to be a veteran.”

“Well, I’m not. Served for four years and was in a lot of dangerous situations,” Paul lied smoothly.

Well, it was more of a half-truth. He just left out the fact that a lot of the people he fought were the undead.

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

Paul glanced over the stranger’s shoulder to see Daryl rapidly making his way towards them, his face contorted in distrust and anger. Paul furrowed his eyebrows at Daryl’s expression, alerting the stranger to Daryl’s approach.

Paul just barely managed to stop himself from calling Daryl “babe,” remembering that in this version of the world homosexuality wasn’t as readily accepted, “Daryl, what is it?”

“Nothing important,” Daryl muttered once he’d made his way to Paul’s side.

More specificity he had discreetly positioned himself between Paul and the stranger. Paul knew that Daryl knew he could take care of himself and it made Paul question what about this stranger had Daryl so on edge.

“Hey, you know the quickest way into town? Car broke down a ways back and we’ve trying to find a town to settle down in for the night.”

The stranger nodded and turned to point at a bridge a few streets down from them, “you take that bridge and go straight for about two miles and you’ll be there. But there’s no need for you two to walk, I can give you a ride in my car.”

Paul opened his mouth to accept the man’s offer—after dealing with the dead and Negan what threat could this guy possibly pose between him and Daryl—when Daryl cut him off, “Nah, we’re fine walking.”

“Suit yourselves,” the man said pulling his car keys out of his pocket “but, hey, if you need something the name’s Shane Walsh and I’m a cop at the King County Sheriff Department.”

Paul’s blood ran cold at the name, Shane Walsh. The first man Rick killed, Judith’s biological father, someone who killed a man in cold blood just to survive, a man who caused Daryl’s entire family a lot of pain before Rick finally ended him. Now he was here, alive once again. Daryl’s distrust of the man made a lot of sense now and he was so glad Daryl had jumped in to decline Shane’s offer.

They watched carefully as Shane pulled out of the parking lot and headed off towards down.

“Great, now I’ve gotta deal with that asshole all over again and this time I can’t kill him,” Daryl groaned.

“Yeah, this whole thing might be a bit more complicated than we thought,” Paul said when something on the plaque above the map caught his eye, “looks like Maggie and Glenn live here too.”

Above the map was a plaque that read “This Park was sponsored by the Greene Nature Foundation—with special donations from the Rhee family” Below that plaque was a picture of Glenn and Maggie on what looked to be their wedding day, lamented to preserve it under the harsh outdoor conditions. The paper explained how the couple chose to use their marriage as a fundraiser to build this beautiful park instead of receiving normal wedding gifts.

“I wonder how many of my family members are here,” Daryl mused, staring at the image of Glenn and Maggie standing in the center of the park, both beaming radiantly at the camera.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos greatly appreciated.


End file.
